223 



AFFINITIES. 



1. With E. incrassata Labill. 



In Bentham's Key (B.F1. iii, 194) in a sub-subseries in which the leaves and 

 fruit are alike, 



Operculum obtuse or umbonate, much shorter than the calyx-tube. 



Leaf- veins inconspicuous. Peduncles not much flattened ... ... E. dumosa. 



Operculum rostrate, often longer than the calyx-tube. ... ... ... E '. incrassala. 



Look at Plate 16, Part TV, 'and at the extreme right-hand drawing (dumosa) 

 of Mueller's " Eucalyptographia" drawing of E. incrassata, and see what value is to 

 be given to the above description of the operculum in E. dumosa. I do not attach 

 much importance to " leaf veins inconspicuous." The character " Peduncles not 

 much flattened" (compare Plates 16 and 13, and also specimens since seen) applies at 

 least as much to E. incrassata as to E. dumosa. The peduncle is terete or thereabouts 

 in our New South Wales and Victorian specimens of E. dumosa. It is flat in the South 

 Austrahan and in two specimens from Western Australia; all the other Western 

 Australian specimens are similar to New South Wales ones. 



The peduncle of E. incrassata var. angulosa is short and thick or flat. We have 

 intermediate specimens with longer peduncles. 



The fact of the matter is that Bentham's specimens of E. incrassata (B.F1. iii, 

 231) refer largely to var. angulosa, while under E. dumosa he has a wide collection of 

 varieties, and, in one case (Blue Mountains), mixed material. 



The identification of E. incrassata typica depends primarily on Labillarciiere's 

 imperfect and poor drawing (reproduced at fig. 1. Plate 13, Part IV), and the identifi- 

 cation of Drummond's 3rd Coll. No. 65 (figs. 2a, 2b, Plate 13). In other words, is 

 Drummond's specimen conspecific with E. dumosa as well as E. incrassata ? It seems to 

 me that Miss Flockton's drawings (to say nothing of additional material) prove that the 

 fruits of E. incrassata and E. dumosa are identical. Much has been permitted to rest 

 on the operculum. We have it pointed in fig. 2c, Plate 13 (incrassata), in 3a, Plate 15 

 (dumosa), and transition forms in the dumosa Plate (16). It is a shaky character. 



Eeturning to Mueller's " Eucalyptographia," he speaks of E. dumosa representing 

 the " small flowered state (of incrassata) with generally narrower leaves, only faintly 

 furrowed and ridged calyces, short-pointed lid, and scarcely dilated [this is wrong. — 

 J.H.M.] umbel-stalks." At all events he believed that E. incrassata and E. dumosa 

 are conspecific. 



Is JE. dumosa A. Cunn. specifically different from E. incrassata Labill. ? 



Frankly I do not think the present state of our knowledge, justifies our taking a 

 contrary position, but until we know more about Drummond's 3rd Coll. No. 65, collect 

 it again, and especially note its habit and get bark, timber and juvenile leaves, the 



